1. Field
The present disclosure is directed toward electrical wiring devices with user accessible connections and a shutter system for preventing unwanted objects from being inserted into the user accessible connections of the devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many electrical wiring devices have a line side, which is connectable to an electrical power supply, a load side, which is connectable to one or more loads, a user accessible connection connected to the load side, and at least one conductive path between the line and load sides. Electrical connections to wires supplying electrical power or wires conducting electricity to the one or more loads are at line side and load side connections, and electrical connections to user accessible loads are typically connected to the load side connections. With electrical wiring devices with user accessible loads, e.g., single and duplex receptacles, user safety is a major concern. Further, the electrical wiring device industry has witnessed an increasing call for circuit breaking devices or systems which are designed to interrupt power to various loads, such as household appliances, consumer electrical products and branch circuits. In particular, electrical codes require electrical circuits in home bathrooms and kitchens to be equipped with ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI), for example. Presently available GFCI devices, such as the device described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,894, use an electrically activated trip mechanism to mechanically break an electrical connection between the line side and the load side. Such devices are resettable after they are tripped by, for example, the detection of a ground fault.
Electrical wiring devices such as standard single and duplex type electrical receptacles, and some of the circuit interrupting devices noted above also have user accessible load connections, where the load side connection and user accessible load connection are typically electrically connected together. In such electrical wiring devices, the line and load side connections are binding screws and the user accessible connection is a plug connection to a contact or receptacle located inside the device and accessible through the face plate of the electrical wiring device. To protect users from inadvertently or unknowingly inserting one or more objects into the internal receptacle, well known non-conductive safety plugs that can be inserted through the face plate to block access to the internal receptacle have been utilized. The present disclosure contemplates other techniques for protecting users from inadvertently or unknowingly inserting one or more objects into the internal receptacle of an electrical wiring device.